This invention relates to a cassette intended for building up drawer cabinets of the type that accommodates a drawer and includes, on one hand, a rectangular frontal frame from which four walls extend, viz a bottom wall, two side walls and an upper wall, and, on the other hand, a rear wall to which said walls are connected, and which frontal frame has at least one lower, vertical flange in connection with the first-mentioned walls, the drawer in addition to a back piece including a bottom piece, two side pieces as well as a frontal piece in which a lock is arranged for locking the drawer in relation to the cassette.
A cassette for a drawer cabinet of the above-mentioned type is previously known by EP 739 178. Drawer cabinets built up of such cassettes are frequently installed in service vehicles of different types and are used for storage of miscellaneous objects and utensils that need to be at hand for the mobile service personnel which make use of the vehicle. For instance, tools and expendable components, such as screws, nuts, couplings, etc. may be stored in the drawers of the drawer cabinets.
The cassette for a drawer cabinet known by EP 739 178 includes a lock which per se does not have the purpose of theftproofing the drawer, but instead retain the same in the pushed-in position in the cassette and if required allow the pulling out of drawer. Characteristic of this known lock is that the same is mounted in an upper part of the frontal piece of the drawer and includes a turnably movable, hook-shaped lock plunger which in the locking position should engage behind an upper flange in the rectangular frontal frame of the cassette. In order to turn the plunger between locking and disengaging positions, the lock furthermore includes a handle. This has a profile shape that corresponds with the profile shape of a gripping flange, which protrudes from the upper edge of the frontal piece of the drawer. More precisely, the handle is placed in a central recess in the gripping flange in order to be located, in the locking state of the lock, in line with the rest of the gripping flange.
A disadvantage of this known cassette for a drawer cabinet has, however, turned out be that the function of the lock may be jeopardized during extreme conditions. Thus, in particular wide drawers (drawers having a width of 600 mm) may be subjected to bending deformation when they are filled with heavy objects. More precisely, the intermediate portion of the drawer then sinks down in relation to the sides. Since the upper flange of the frontal frame of the cassette behind which the lock plunger should engage is comparatively narrow (usually approx. 5 mm), the free end portion of the plunger which in practice is capable of engaging against the flange becomes very short (usually approx. 2-3 mm). Therefore, if the drawer sinks down some millimeters in the middle, the lock plunger risks to lose the locking grip thereof against the flange when the drawer at the same time happens to be subjected to unintentional tractive forces. Thus, when cornering during the ride of the vehicle, it has occurred that heavy loaded and thereby somewhat deflected drawers have been subjected to such large centrifugal forces that they unintentionally have been pulled out from the cassette; something which may have drastic consequences by virtue of the objects stored in the drawers having been thrown out in an uncontrolled way. Another disadvantage of the previously known cassette for a drawer cabinet is that the handle of the lock and surrounding parts of the gripping flange of the frontal piece of the drawer protrudes from the outside of the frontal piece of the drawer. This means that the handle and the gripping flange occupy a certain space in the area in front of the drawer cabinet. Therefore, in the very narrow space that is present in a passage between opposite rows of drawer cabinets in a vehicle, the handle contributes to a limitation of the operator""s possibilities to move between the rows of drawer cabinets.
The present invention aims at obviating the above-mentioned disadvantages of the previously known cassette for a drawer cabinet and at providing an improved cassette. Therefore, an object of the invention is to provide a cassette for a drawer cabinet in which the drawer is secured in a reliable way in the pushed-in position thereof in the cassette and in which the risk of unintentional pulling-out of the drawer is obviated. An additional object is to create a cassette for a drawer cabinet, the drawer of which may be unlocked and pulled out by means which do not protrude from the outside of the frontal piece of the drawer.
By SE 150773, a lock intended for securing drawers is previously known which has a plunger being mounted in the lower edge of a frontal piece of the drawer. However, this lock includes a house which in its entirety is located outside the frontal piece of the drawer and opens downwards in order to permit the action of a button, by means of which the lock plunger may be lifted up from the locking position thereof. A lock house projecting in this way is inappropriate in connection with drawers of drawer cabinets of the type that the invention relates to.